The Big Picture

Chris Pine enjoyed playing the villain in Wish and found it to be the most fun and enjoyable role. Pine praised the villain song in the film and found it challenging yet exciting to perform. Pine didn’t see his character as the hero and embraced his villainous side, focusing on the character’s desire for power.

Wish, the latest musical adventure from Walt Disney Animation Studios, introduces audiences to the magical kingdom of Rosas and its 17-year-old resident idealist Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose). The love of her family inspires Asha to want to reunite her supportive mother and 100-year-old grandfather with the one true wish from their hearts, but that mission places her directly into the path of villainous ruler King Magnifico (voiced by Chris Pine), whose desire for power is hurting his entire community. And just when the task seems impossible to complete, the help of her favorite pajama-wearing goat Valentino (voiced by Alan Tudyk) and a cosmic ball of energy called Star will help Asha see that a little inner courage can go a long way.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Pine talked about how playing the villain truly is the most fun, his reaction to hearing the original songs for the first time, which quality of Magnifico’s was always present in him, going “full tilt boogie woogie” with his performance, what makes this villain the essence of Narcissism 101, and his favorite nod to the legacy of Disney.

Wish Wish follows a young girl named Asha who wishes on a star and gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when a trouble-making star comes down from the sky to join her. Release Date November 22, 2023 Director Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn Cast Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Ariana DeBose, Evan Peters Rating PG Runtime 92 minutes Main Genre Animation Production Company Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Collider: Is playing the villain truly the most fun?

CHRIS PINE: Yeah, 100%. It’s fun. It’s the best. Why would I ever go back to playing the hero?

Image via Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Disney

Especially when you get the best villain song, ever.

PINE: It’s a fun villain song and he’s a lunatic of a guy. Jennifer [Lee] wrote a great character, and Fawn [Veerasunthorn] and Chris [Buck] directed me really well. I had a great time.

The Challenge of Tackling the Original Songs
What was it like to get the song and to hear it for the first time? What went through your head? Did you immediately see all the things you were concerned with, or were you just excited to do it?

PINE: Most of the excitement, in the beginning, was because they wrote such gorgeous music. Because it’s not what I do, I’m in awe of the magic trick of how they do it. Julia [Michaels] has such an incredible way of phrasing her words that I’ve never heard before, and to match it to what she and Ben [Rice] are doing musically, which is often in counterpoint to what the rhythm is for the words, I liked the challenge of it. I really liked knowing that it was gonna be hard. And the song that I actually fell most in love with was the duet that we have. It’s this love song that I think is just gorgeous.

Are you someone who is super critical of yourself when you’re doing that kind of stuff, or can you have a moment where you know that it’s really working?

PINE: I used to be really, really hard on myself when I was younger, but not so much now. I really love my job. It’s just the most fun. It’s not that it’s the easiest job, but it’s the most joyful. You just play pretend all the time. It was difficult. If I listen to the song, I’m like, “Oh, God, I could have done better there.” But the fact of the matter is, I made a Disney song and that’s pretty cool.

Image via Disney

Exploring the Levels of Villainy Within Magnifico
We know that these movies change, they evolve, and the characters come and go. What is something about your character that stayed the same throughout and that was always present in him?

PINE: Definitely the charm was present, all the way through. That was always there. I would say what changed the most is how evil he got, and how unhinged and creepy he got. That modulated over time.

Was that something that you wanted to play with the levels of?

PINE: I don’t know if I’m lazy or what, but they wrote a great script. I come in with my tool bag and I’m like, “What do you want? Do you want me to dance?” I like that process more because it keeps me really free in the moment instead of coming in and being like, “I’m gonna do it this way. I’m gonna do it that way.” We did a couple different passes on that until I was like, “Do you want me to give it full tilt boogie woogie?” And they were like, “Go for it.” And then, they were like, “Yeah, that’s the one!”

Did you get a sense of who this character was, from the very beginning?

PINE: Yeah, Jennifer wrote a really great script. What I love about it is that it’s not reinventing the wheel, and I mean that in the best way. It’s classic storytelling where you get the princess and you get someone evil. In this case, she’s not a princess and he’s not a beady-eyed, twisting the mustache kind of guy, but he’s still pretty bad. I knew I had a role to play, and my role was to be the antagonist. That, ultimately, is really a lot to work off of, honestly. The only thing I did was play around with my voice. If he’s an aristocrat, I wanted to do a little mid-Atlantic hyper articulation thing, but it was mostly just me.

Image via Disney

Does Magnifico See Himself as the Hero of His Own Story?
We often hear actors talk about how they don’t see their character as the villain. With something like this, where the character is full-on and you can go big with him, do you embrace the villainy more than you would in something live-action?

PINE: I can’t say that I ever sat down with Magnifico and tried to go, “How can I have compassion for that?” I just played the fun part. In one part, he’s charming and really kind. In another part, he’s losing his mind and he wants power. You think more on the granular level of, “What is this person want in this precise moment?,” and then you just go 100 miles an hour in that direction. What’s difficult about voice acting is that there’s a subtlety and nuance you can do with a close up where you don’t have to necessarily do so much, that voice acting won’t pick up on. That’s the tricky part.

Do you think he is somebody who sees himself as the hero of his own story?

PINE: Yeah, of course, 100%.

What did you enjoy about that relationship between him and Asha? I loved watching how their dynamic grew throughout the film. Do you think he sees a bit of himself in her, until he feels threatened by her?

PINE: It’s interesting you say that because I basically see him as wanting power the entire time. He likes his wife, insofar as his wife’s gonna tell him that he’s handsome and cool. He’s the absolute narcissist. It’s like Narcissism 101. When I watch him, I just see all the, “Oh, boy, I’m gonna screw you over,” kind of stuff. Maybe it’s bad acting, but that’s what I see.

No, I think it’s more that that’s what the audience wants to see in him.

PINE: Yeah, of course, as it should be.

His Favorite Easter Egg
Is there an Easter egg in this film, or a nod to just the legacy of Disney animation, that’s your personal favorite?

PINE: It’s not a deep cut, but the fact that Star is a star of the film, and it’s to wish upon a star, the fact that they’re in some ways doing a not so hidden origin story of one of the major features of Disney, I think is really neat. That was my favorite part of it.

Did you have a Disney villain standard that you wanted to try to reach?

PINE: Oh, I don’t know. There’s Maleficent and Scar. It’s hard. I can really only do my own thing. I can take what’s on the page and have suggestions, but I’m not trying to compete. There are a lot of really great villains in the history of Disney.

Wish is now playing in theaters. Purchase tickets here.